The level 6 Arcana utility power 'Warp in the Weave' (Dragon #385, p79) reads as follows:

Trigger: A creature uses a burst or blast power that includes you.

Effect: You spend a healing surge but regain no hit points. The triggering burst or blast does not target you or your square.

Presumably this also means that powers that create zones defined by their targeted area would not create the zone in that particular space either. But what happens when the zone created is moveable, such as, for example, Stinking Cloud?

Does the hole in the zone move with the cloud, remain centered on the space it was triggered in, or 'fill in' as soon as the zone is moved? Or something else entirely?

Effect: The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of your next turn. [...]

A burst or blast is a description of an area. Stinking Cloud is a power that targets an area described by a burst. Warp in the Weave removes a square from that burst's shape. The effect line specifies that the burst creates a zone (not becomes a zone, not is a zone; creates). The zone persists, described by the burst's shape, but the burst's job (describing the zone's shape) is done, and it is no more.

So you cut a hole out of a burst that describes a zone, and thereby get a zone with a hole cut out of it. The hole moves in relation to the zone.

I like both this and Oblivious Sage's answer, but I'm picking this one as my accepted answer because it seems to keep the spirit of the power without providing what is essentially full immunity from the zone.
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AnanisaptaDec 14 '12 at 9:14

Good point! I can see both my and Sage's answer being argued from a RAW perspective, so balance is as good an arbiter as any. (I also agree with JonathanHobbs that ultimately this is a per-case DM call.)
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BESWDec 14 '12 at 13:09

It says the blast or burst does not target you or your square, with no mention of end condition. As a rules lawyer, I would say that that if Entity A creates a zone with a burst/blast that includes Player B, and B uses Warp in the Weave, then at any given time whatever square B occupies is not included in the zone.

Moving the zone doesn't fill the square in, because B and B's square cannot targeted by the zone. When B moves, Warp in the Weave's square of exclusion moves with B, because Warp in the Weave excludes B's square from the AoE, not squares B used to be in.

Presumably this also means that powers that create zones defined by their targeted area would not create the zone in that particular space either. But what happens when the zone created is moveable, such as, for example, Stinking Cloud?

Does the hole in the zone move with the cloud, remain centered on the space it was triggered in, or 'fill in' as soon as the zone is moved? Or something else entirely?

This should be up to your GM.

All of it depends on the situation, and it's up to your GM's judgement. Some zones, like the floor freezing, could exclude your square - others, like the floor collapsing into a pit, would not make sense to exclude your square. Some zones, like a gas cloud or running water, may cover your tile eventually but give you a turn or two of reprieve. Some may have the gap move with them, some might have it stay where it is.

Ask your GM what's going to happen before you make the call to use Warp in the Weave. There is no clear and universal answer here, just your GM's answer.

I suppose this comes down to the interpretation of a burst or blast "creating" a zone. In my rulings, I've deemed that the zone has the same construction algorithm of the creating burst or blast power, rather than the same specific squares of the burst or blast.

This ruling has largely come about from movable zones that were created with obstacles within the burst or blast. For example, if you cast a spell that creates a zone next to a wall or with a pillar in the area, then sustain and move the zone, what do you do? I've always ruled that, after the move, the zone is "re-constructed" according to the original rules, so if it's an Area Burst 2, you move the central square and, after the move, trace the new 2 square radius out from that square.

By this logic, it doesn't matter that you've excluded a square from the burst or blast that creates the zone through Warp in the Weave, what matters is the rules for creating the zone. With that in mind, I would probably still want to give the Wizard a chance to get out of the zone, especially if the triggering power does nothing except create the zone. I would re-word Warp in the Weave as follows:

Effect: You spend a healing surge but regain no hit points. The triggering burst or blast does not target you or your square. If the triggering burst or blast creates a zone, you are not affected by the zone until the end of your next turn.

The Burst/Blasts initial effects are blocked, but the zone is defined as an area filled in by an effect. The zone is created outside your square, so it isn't targeting your square specifically so the zone is created without issue. Additionally, the zone is created as an after effect.

So to steal the Stinking Cloud example everyone likes, you would not by hit by the 1d10 + Intelligence modifier poison damage which is the rush of the cloud forming, but once the cloud has formed it fills in the whole zone and you would immediately be subject to the effects of the zone.

Consider this like you throwing up some kind wall in front of the oncoming rush of stink, protecting you from the spray itself, but the area around you will still smell bad afterwards.

I agree with this. It reads you aren't targetted. Not you aren't affected.
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wax eagle♦Dec 13 '12 at 13:33

I disagree. Warp in the Weave isn't you throwing up a wall of some kind, it's you semi-counterspelling on-the-fly so that the spell cast has a hole in its area of effect. A stinking cloud won't fill in that hole just because it's a gas; it's magic gas, which is why it doesn't just expand to fill the available space or dissipate entirely (if outdoors).
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Oblivious SageDec 13 '12 at 15:56

@ObliviousSage But it does do both of those things. From the D&D 3.5 version "A permanent stinking cloud dispersed by wind reforms in 10 minutes." this implies that a normal one can be dispersed by wind. "Sustain Minor: The zone persists until the end of your next turn." And in 4E you must magically sustain the spell to avoid it from dissipating. Same concept can apply to most zones, they are heavily skinned as after effects that can be sustained with magic, but otherwise operate by physical rules.
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DampeS8NDec 13 '12 at 16:12

First, this isn't D&D 3.5; you would be absolutely right in 3.5, which was simulationist, but 4e is not simulationist. The sustain minor applies to all zones, not just those consisting of potentially dissipating gas clouds; therefore it follows that the sustain powers the magic that creates and defines the cloud. They don't operate by physical rules because 1) they're magic, and 2) nothing in the rules anywhere ever implies they operate by physical rules.
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Oblivious SageDec 13 '12 at 16:18

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@ObliviousSage That's your opinion. DM your games however you like. That's my point. Every possible answer is represented on this. From every point of view. I can easily see this from all the angles presented here.
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DampeS8NDec 13 '12 at 18:48